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Total Members Voted: 16

[mightymushroom]

I'd recommend asking questions from the list I posted earlier, in priority of which ones you'd like answered in case you don't ace the roll.

Reviewing standard questions . . .

What do you do?

Does fall on my knees for an emotional close-up that'll put me in the running for an Oscar nomination count as a move?

I wish.

My info moves keep backfiring, but maybe third time's the charm: Read a Person Persons. Can I pluralize that?

Spoiler: questions (click to show/hide)

It counts as charged with Yorky holding a gun on Krone, right?
1. Is Twice telling the truth? This seems to be a plot hijacked by the kids, he's the youngest and most likely confidant among known remaining conspirators.
2. What does Yorky wish I'd do? What's her motivation in the first place? Ozairs vs. MeatDogheads, sure, but we're friendly with the Weaverbirds. I fixed up her son!!
3. How can I get Twice to join a retrieval effort? Does he really have a sense of conscience such that he owes me/Yorky for this?

Do you have a car in that garage of yours? If you don't, who does?

Correction, I had a car in that garage, past tense. Guess what I just watched speeding out Ozair gate?

Mine was the only vehicle reserved for Ozair clan; I know at least two are out of the hold. Of the remaining three probably the easiest to get is in the keeping of Leno, mechanic for the Weaverbirds – supposing the clan's upset enough over Missed to lend me support. But hell, he's a loony among savvyheads, half the time strung out on the Coil and the other half dreaming of his long-dead wife.

What kind of relationship does Missed and Kara have? Why would Missed want to abandon all to go with her?

Missed would come by every day when they were younger, but that tapered off a couple years ago. To be fair, that's when Kara came out of her funk and started wandering more widely. None of that explains why Missed is running away. The thing is, I don't know why Kara is gone either. I mean, I'm a hands-off style foster parent but I at least thought she accepted her responsibilities in the town. At this point I rather think my niece has been brainwashed by a cult and if so Missed would be just as vulnerable. She watched her father die, too.

What's your thoughts on Rum of the Dogheads?

They never came by the house the way Missed would. Secondhand I've heard both that they're an okay kid and that they're a bit of a bully. That doesn't stand out among Dogheads, inside their clan they put a lot of emphasis on personal toughness. To survive around here, that's not the worst idea.

(And the pilgrim question left blank because Starver's answer beats anything I had. +1)

[AzyWng]

How does earning experience in this game work, anyway?

[Fniff]

How does earning experience in this game work, anyway?

When you fail a roll, you get experience.

[Starver]

(By the way, I meant to say I particularly liked mm's "that was our car!" answer. Hence part of the reason for the distraction, I suppose, and likely chosen with Kara's whole involvement in mind, whichever way round that happened. Doesn't mean we don't still have that hidden bike I suggested. The rest of the stuff from mm aligns even better to how I was thinking, so +1 to that in general. If that helps.)

[mightymushroom]

Rereading, and –
Things like this are why I called switching between gender-associated labels confusing. There's two clues and I can't tell if one is a mistake or if Missed is another in-between case.

"You have five seconds to explain why my son is riding out of town with a fucking pilgrim," Yorky says.

-snip-

"What?" Mice says, who was previously occupied with calling after his now-vanished sister Missed.

So from the recency effect of the latter, I ended up ascribing Kara+Missed = best friends = two females, but obviously that can be amended (and without changing much about my answer, thankfully). I was more careful to use "they" for Rum, for now.

Hence part of the reason for the distraction, I suppose, and likely chosen with Kara's whole involvement in mind, whichever way round that happened.

Yep, two answers for the price of one. 

OOC-me wants to walk back a little on the "cult" thing: that's just the sudden shock talking. Many kinds of psychological pressure can bend a teenager, we have no reason to suspect a particular brand of nefariousness.

[Starver]

I missed Missed being called a son, entirely, and took the other cue at face-value to assume as a (girl-)friend of Kara

Without being too specific about ages (post-apocalyptically, age references w.r.t. life milestones probably don't fit), but sort of imagined Rum as the jock, a Senior (or at least the eldest) in a school setting, the natural attraction for Kara in the year below (and, with the "age halved, plus seven" formula making it not totally creepy, Kara being a prime trophy-date for Rum, if she puts out). Rum is the point-man for the Dogheads in working the Plan and needs/finds useful Kara's presence, it being easy enough to go some way towards a potentially Bonnie & Clyde relationship. Or something of a Patty Hearst thing...

Meanwhile, Missed is a half-tolerated hanger-on in Kara's social group, perhaps a year younger still or a younger-in-the-same-year or less-mature/outgoing-in-same-year. Useful, but more Scooby Gang than Cordelia's Cheerleaders, and only now acting as gooseberry because of an atypical assertiveness in demanding a part in the venture as payment for her complicity (having perhaps overheard Rum and Kara discussing things whilst hovering nearby in a typical "stalking the popular girl, ready to be at her beck and call" High-Schoolish way. All of which would dismay mother Yorky.


But that's just one way to interpret it. 

Spoiler: A completely different way (click to show/hide)

It's possible to switch things round that Yorky needs "something done" about the Pilgrim, releasing them (post interogation) without alerting the rival faction that they'd even been captured. She has 'trusted' daughter/leiutenant arrange things, except that Missed is trying to inherit power more quickly and fudges things so that rather than dumping the Pilgrim, there's going to be a deal with the Pilgrim elders, to Missed's direct benefit. She needs transport, and persuades impressionable Kara to assist, with besottenly youthful Rum being dragged along to add a bit of expendable muscle or even gift/unknowing sacrifice to the Pilgrim tribals, something the senior dogheads aren't going to complain about due to either the Weaverbird clan's usual hold on them (or Missed's pledges, pending her power-grab) or because it's not far from their own Nietzchian tendencies, w.r.t. their younger members, not yet proven as worthy...

But that's not the story I'm looking at, just here for illustrative purposes. Unless you prefer it, all you lurkers out there.

[mightymushroom]

I missed Missed the first time too.

Both you and I have reacted to this story line in a serious way that borders on, as you put it, "creepy." We as authors may have let ourselves be beguiled by the bleakness of the setting. For something alternate, suppose they're a trio of kids 13-15 itching for more to do without being trusted by the elders; friends who're convinced that it's basically a joyride and don't know anything deeper because the "adults" didn't share. That would fit in very well with your answer regarding Missed insisting on a spot. There's an adventure to be had and she's not being left behind again as her best friend is hanging out more and more with a new boy(?)friend. The burning question is then less of what secret life our niece is living, and more about unmasking this "pilgrim." Why target the kids? Does Yorky believe that Kim will run after them, or did she think Kim would be leaving with them?

The original post was written with a slight (small enough to be reversible) implication that the buggy was from outside. From that point the Pilgrim is probably an outsider too, and taking the three teens for [reasons]. If my suggestion that it's Kim's buggy is adopted, then you're right: Kara's involvement is as much for access as anything else; it also means the Plan may have been presented in such a way that Yorky thought Kim would be driving. In this case, it's not the kids but the ride that our Pilgrim is after.

Changing my move suggestion to put all the Read a Person on Yorky. She's the key informant at the moment. Top preference for "Is she telling the truth?" and if the roll permits follow up with "What does she intend to do?" and "How can I convince her to let me use the Weaver Birds vehicle?" (With my luck they'll turn out to be the same answer and I waste a question.)

If the Pilgrim was in town without a ride out, were the Dogheads and/or Weaver Birds covering it up? Duforne Howe hardly seems like a place where news that big stays quiet. What were they offered that nobody else got to hear?

[Fniff]

Spoiler: About the Gender Stuff (click to show/hide)

First thing, apologies for the mixing up of genders. With the current system of GMing I have, which my friend Harry Baldman describes as the "We Ask The Questions Here!" school of gamemastering, I generally leave parts of a character blank for you guys to fill in. However, this can result in characters being fairly loose until they're better defined, meaning I mix up details such as gender.
For future reference, if I use a different pronoun for a character than I usually do, it's probably my fuck-up rather than their gender. I'm genderqueer myself and I avoid the pronoun switching: seems like a good way to confuse people more than you already do with your existence.
For now, Missed of the Weaverbirds is a girl and Rum of the Dogheads... Can't remember what I settled on.
ROLL FOR GENDER!
Okay, Rum is a girl too. That settles that.

Dice: 7
+1sharp
= MIXED
Is Yorky telling the truth?
She is.
Truth is, she's wanted you and your kin out of town ever since she saw the look on Mice's face when you fixed his leg up. The families don't mix in Defurne Howe: that's how it goes. She's been polite with you, but you start thinking about all the times you felt her glaring at your back whenever you talked with Mice. Whatever Krone told her, it wouldn't be hard if he phrased it like it'd get you out of her picture.
Unlike Krone and the rest of the Dogheads, she doesn't think you're an outlaw weirdo.
She thinks you're an outsider.
In many ways, that's worse. At least if you're an outlaw, you try making amends.
Outsider's always outside.

When Yorky tells Mice to hop it, his face twists up in a mess of conflicting emotions, then it falls flat. While Krone starts muttering away, spinning a web of comfortable lies and trying to get Yorky to lie in it, you watch Mice as he stamps across to the garage (Yurt 9 on the map). He grabs the shutter, shoves it up, then walks into the dusty dark.

"Yorky," Krone says. "If Missed went with them, she couldn't have been much good."

"Shut up," Yorky says. "Shut your mouth, you son of a--"

You remember Mice's duty to the Weaver Bird clan. You remember him saying he took it up because of you.
Captain of Transport.

The Weaverbird Vehicle, a rig with a long-beaked weaverbird painted on the cab door, charges out of the garage and grinds to a halt behind you. Mice kicks open the passenger door and tells you to get in. Yorky turns her head and yells "Mice, what are you--" when Krone takes the distraction and punches Yorky in the back of the head.
The crowd's only gotten bigger since this started, and when Krone and Yorky get into a brawl they freak out. Some people run away, some people start running toward, and Doghead and Weaverbird are starting to take out their weapons...
On the horizon, you can still see the dust kicked up by the rapidly departing buggy.
And yep, that's your buggy.

Mice looks at you with those wide bright eyes of his, and you get the uncomfortable feeling that he really thinks you're the smartest person he knows.
Priority Questions
What do you do?
Secondary Questions
Krone of the Dogheads thinks he's the law in this town. He's wrong: Hangman of the Jacksons is. Tell me why.
How do you think Yorky felt when Krone told her Missed was no good?
What did Mice name his vehicle?

[crazyabe]

Krone of the Dogheads thinks he's the law in this town. He's wrong: Hangman of the Jacksons is. Tell me why.

Hangman has his own set of rules, and when someone breaks them they die. and they die without having a chance to see what is coming, He moves like fog, sounds like the night, can run sixty miles without sweating, and doesn't leave any survivors when he fights. He doesn't bring a weapon, he uses whatever is around. you once saw him kill three men with a spoon, they didn't have a chance to fight back. Krone might think he's the law, but he doesn't stand a chance against Hangman.

[mightymushroom]

Ever had one of those days when the game moderator throws out something that's a complete 180 from what you had in mind?

The families don't mix in Defurne Howe: that's how it goes.

Because I looked at our map and thought, "Oh, yeah, clans. And clearly those clans are exogamous." A 'fact' so obvious to me that I treated it as self-evident.

Spoiler: an exercise in antithesis and synthesis (click to show/hide)

The town has been organized around a central, shared water pit. There are four main paths leading to four gates in the wall. Probably the original 'duty' of each clan – that entitled them to shares in the water resource – was protecting its gate from outside attack; whether the gates were named for the clans or vice versa I leave as an etymological exercise for the reader.

From the map our town's total population looks to be quite small, even assuming that Kim's personal household of three is below average. The amounts seen in the water sharing scene reinforce the impression. Thus exogamy: it's unlikely to be practical to artificially limit partner choices even further. If nothing else, there's no internal barriers that would prevent young children from meeting and playing with each other, or older children from finding a secluded corner for, ah, things best left secluded. So I quickly posited that the clans, far from refusing to mix, have an unwritten rule that enforces mixing.

BUT...

Water rights create a limitation on living arrangements. It's a big deal to be a stakeholder, and you don't get it just by yurting up together. Newlyweds (or individuals, or groups, at some other significant life milestone; newlyweds is just how I framed it internally) must seek a place in an established household with enough water to support them (and babies, if expected). Because exogamy, at least one of them is changing clan. Possibly accompanied by some sort of ceremony of initiation. Having chosen a clan, you are expected to maintain loyalty in return for loyalty; you would be able to draw on that clan's shared resources and no longer have easy access to those of your birth clan.

(Not as easy isn't the same as saying cut off completely. I see a system where family lines criss-cross the clan lines, opening avenues of communication and cooperation. Even under the guise of trading favors, there is quite a bit of room for mutualism.)

Nevertheless there will have been cases in which one of the pairing remains in their birth clan. Then we can posit that the Weaverbirds, and perhaps the other three as well, have a "first family" whose members consistently remain Weaverbirds. If Yorky is one such lifer, that would perfectly explain her attitude toward Kim even if the phrase used contradicts the mixing of which I wrote earlier. Her career has been spent working in and for the clan; if she thinks about the town it's along the lines of, "Duforne Howe is made strong by the strength of the Weaver Birds." Having Kim fix her son's leg instead of bringing him to the Weaverbird medic resulted in an active and personal resentment that Krone exploited; possibly Yorky already had some envy/bitterness toward Ozair generally that was focused on Kim by this incident.

For comparison, I see Krone as a "Looking out for me, myself, and I" type, not a clan type. Kim is almost as ambiguous in politics as in gender, but if anything tends toward the mutualism side – the good of the whole town ultimately benefits every member of the town – an attitude with which neither Krone or Yorky would empathize.

So . . . what to do?

Events are going fast. The Savvyhead is supposed to be the one with plans and answers for every situation, and so far we've suffered confusion and deception and the info rolls hardly keep up with developments.

Interesting; I've never seen one in action.

I hope during the more action-y parts we'll have a chance to MacGyver up some crazy-ass traps and bombs on the fly. So far, however, most of the plot has been social stuff. We actually have a specifically social move, Oftener Right, but it depends on another character asking for advice. Too bad it's not a multiplayer game.

((I've got a whole sequence of actions from here to leaving town. Partly because in my own head they flow naturally from one to the other. Partly because today I'm feeling impatient. Partly because I'm prone to runaway writing. Pick as much or as little as fits your pace best.))

Spoiler: action sequence (click to show/hide)

1. Hold up a hand to get Mice to pause a moment.
If Mice thinks we're the smartest person in town, maybe we should start acting like it.
I'm going to try to twist Oftener Right around to working for us in a single-character adventure.
Because Mice isn't asking for advice before driving off in hot pursuit, but he should be.

First priority: how safe are the kids? We keep the buggy tuned up, which is good for them even if not for the pursuit. Everybody in town keeps well covered, even without "official" pilgrim wear they shouldn't have a problem with dust or sand unless the weather takes a really ugly turn. Divided four ways, how many days' supply can the buggy carry?

. . . Aha! The Plan, so far as we know, originated with Krone. But he needed (or wanted) others to do the dirty work. He recruited Kara to get access to our buggy. He recruited Yorky, too, but for what? It's not anything to do with the Pilgrim, she was surprised by that. Answer: Krone was trying to do this without dipping into the Dogheads' resources. He went to the Weaverbirds . . . no, he went to Yorky asking for supplies and promised to get the Ozair influence – Kim because of Mice, Kara because of Missed – out of town as the return favor (a lie, judging by his choice of diversion). The elders used the teens as go-betweens because they would cross clan lines without much notice. Smuggling food and/or water probably explains part or most of Kara's recent jumpiness, day by day and not just for the big reveal.

Using the kids was their downfall. Krone and Yorky probably told them to keep quiet and expected their authority to hold. But Missed hears that her childhood best friend is about to leave town, maybe permanently, and confronts Kara. Rum is in on it from the Doghead side, too; the three teens compare notes and realize they've each been told untruths. United, they hatch their own scheme piggybacked on Krone's. Heh, Missed was always the adventurous one: far from being a tag-along third wheel on the romantic couple, we'll bet it was her idea in the first place! The kids probably think they've got a Pilgrim guide to El Dorado. A city where water is free and the old technology isn't decaying day by day. They may not even be running away as such, they could expect to return as saviors with a map to the promised land flowing with milk and honey. It's just the kind of thing a teenager would think they can pull off.

2. (If she's not unconscious) Ask Yorky how much water she took from the Weaverbirds' cache.
It's rhetorical; we're not expecting an answer. The above is full of guesswork. But it fits, Krone and the kids and the surprises. We'll bet our favorite wrench she at least looks guilty. It'll bolster our reputation as a person who sees everything, even if we got to this one too late. Plus it reminds everyone that she was in on it, lest her guilt be obscured by the outbreak of fighting.

3. Advise (Manipulate if I have to?) Mice to check again the water and food on the truck.
They needed a source with family access that wouldn't be checked too often. We'll bet there's one or two [h2o containers] and [fill in number] rations missing. Yorky kept Mice busy with local errands instead of driving the truck; his personal regard for me is too obvious to get him in on the plot.

4. Even before Mice finishes inventory, accuse Krone of pressuring Kara to steal a similar amount from Clan Ozair.
Maybe she was only smuggling into the buggy, but most likely there was more. Especially if the teens were planning to take more people along than Krone was. Maybe a little unfair, but he deserves all the heat we can put on him. We lay the groundwork for defending charges against Kara if we ever bring her back.

5A. <Conditional: Mice doesn't think we have enough supplies to leave.> Resupply by any and all means necessary.
Don't worry about burning bridges. First things first, and that's the safety of the girls. Ignore Krone, we're through with him. If he hinders us in any way, proceed with 5B. Possibly try to pick up the whatsit from our garage that reminds us of the Coil, it may be handy. Although we may need a new round of answers first, 'cause I doubt we're taking the grow lamp or the roof.

5B. <Conditional: Mice says things are missing but there's enough to go. It's a big truck.> Go Aggro: shoot Krone with our pistol.
Seriously. Yorky hasn't and thus won't, but someone needs to. When everyone is staring at us looking like we're fucking out of our mind, lean on our spooky intense reputation and tell them, "You wanted answers. He'd give you answers all day and all night. Not one will bring our girls home. This is my answer."
((And Kim the stay-at-home survivor mechanic begins transforming into Kim the badass anti-hero.))

6. Move out.
Someone else may hop on for the ride; let them. End chapter 1, start chapter 2.

The first section of reasoning accounts for everyone: except the Pilgrim. Who? Why? How?

Especially why was he/she/it staring straight at us? That's spooky, which means the Coil. Did they use the Coil to check who is the buggy's owner? Who would be following? Who is a threat? Who is their next victim?

Is it really Krone's plan at all? Is it really the teens' plan at all? We're not sorry for shooting the lying bastard Krone, if it came to that, but there's a big piece missing. We have to endure the uncertainty that that answer may change every one of those relationships that we just said were a guaranteed fit.

So worry gnaws at the new, imperfect badass. It's a long, uncomfortable ride ahead.

Small answers:

Krone v. Hangman
Krone thinks he's the master of Duforne Howe in the same way Draco Malfoy thinks he's the most important person at Hogwart's. Krone might be a little better at lies and manipulation (more practice) but just as often people roll their eyes and ignore him.

As for Hangman's authority, I've got three to choose from:
A: the too-easy answer: did you think his momma held him to her breast and said, "You little darling angel, we'll call you 'Hangman.'" Look at the Wall again: he's the executioner.
B: the be obvious answer: Hangman is the biggest person in town. Tall and broad, there might be a couple Dogheads who would risk going toe to toe, but just the dumbest ones.
C: the caucus answer: I don't know exactly how politics works inside Clan Jackson, but Hangman is the One. Whenever there's something that requires stakeholders to meet and vote, other Jacksons may say anything but once Hangman makes his intent known they all line up behind him. He commands the single biggest power bloc in Duforne Howe.

Yorky's reaction
I read Yorky as an older woman, somewhere beyond the Change. Missed is her last child, her last chance to enrich Clan Weaverbird. (Moreso, if she believes Mice is lost to Ozair influence.) Now maybe she was blaming herself or maybe not, but as soon as Krone tried to play on her prejudice I guarantee that any anger was externalized and placed squarely on him. (Much the same way as she's been mad at us for helping – and thereby implying, by her logic, that she and the clan are weak.) It's a little surprising that she didn't blow his head off right then.

[Fniff]

Events are going fast. The Savvyhead is supposed to be the one with plans and answers for every situation, and so far we've suffered confusion and deception and the info rolls hardly keep up with developments.

Interesting; I've never seen one in action.

I hope during the more action-y parts we'll have a chance to MacGyver up some crazy-ass traps and bombs on the fly. So far, however, most of the plot has been social stuff. We actually have a specifically social move, Oftener Right, but it depends on another character asking for advice. Too bad it's not a multiplayer game.

Indeed, I should be throwing more Savvyhead stuff in, but things have been going thick and fast. Tell you what though, just say the word and I'll be happy to have MacGyvering.
On a sidenote, loving the analysis of Defurne Howe and its inhabitants. We're really getting a sense of it.
Also, really liked Crazyabe's answer for Hangman. Hope to see more from you!

"Mice," you hold up a single finger. His eyes dart back between you, the buggy, the fight, back to you.
He nods.
You don't have to manipulate him or nothing, he's more than happy to check for supplies.

You turn around and yell "YORKY!"
Her head snaps to look at you with bared teeth, but at least this time she's smart enough (with the assistance of a few Weaverbird kin) hold Krone down by shoving the shotgun against his neck. A few Dogheads are pushing and shoving, trying to get past the Weaverbirds, but for now it's just pushing and shoving.

"How much you take from the stockpiles, Yorky?" you say. "Let me guess... Six?"
A flash of guilt, as you expect.
The crowd starts focusing on you, with bewildered faces on both sides.

"And Krone," you say. "I'm imagining that if I checked the Ozair stockpiles, I'd find a few missing bottles. You told Kara to take as much as she could carry, didn't you?"

Krone gives a lobsided grin: he's missing a few teeth than he was before.

Yorky lifts up her shotgun from Krone's neck and points at you. The whole crowd is getting riled up: Weaverbird sees it as "You think I'm gonna stand here and take this? I should shoot you down!"

"Then shoot 'em down," Krone says. "Fuck's sake, you ain't even fired a warning shot."

"I don't shoot people down, Krone," Yorky says, turning her face to him. "Cos I ain't a goddamn maniac like that bitch standing over--"

Going Aggro
Dice: 8
+0hard
=8, MIXED RESULT

The bullet skirts across his forehead, cutting it open like a knife opening up a pig's belly. You can see bits of brain poking out the front: even if he's still breathing after that, he might as well be dead. The whole crowd has their jaws on the floor. All the crows nesting in the rooftires of the yurts all fly away at once, a cacophony of caws, the only noise in this dead quiet. Yorky jumps off Krone's body and holds up her hands, then desperately tries to wipe the blood off on her shirt. Everyone's looking at you.

You tuck the pistol back up your sleeve. "Try being a maniac sometime," you say. "I just solved your problem, and I'm about to solve another right now. Mice, report!"

"Six bottles, like you said!" Mice calls from the truck.

You smile under the mask. "When I'm right," you say as you hop onto the truck. "I'm right."

"You crazy son of a bitch," Yorky splutters. "You're not walking out of Deferne Howe after killing a stakeholder!"

"Correct," you say, leaning out of the window. "I'm driving out."

The truck speeds away, leaving Deferne Howe and entering Dustbowl Tau.
The taufruit common fields just outside the gates fade away into dust and mud, rocky monoliths and broken down fences when this was all fertile. The dune buggy is just a dot on the horizon but after half a klick you're getting closer and closer. The adrenaline's worn off, and even with Mice giving you a replay of all the cool shit you just did (Excerpt: "And then you were like, I'm driving out, oh my God, how did you even think of that?"), you're really starting to wonder if you made the right call there.

Not helped when Hangman's voice comes on the radio, saying "Kim, this is Hangman, what are you doing, over."

You pick up the mic and speak into it, "Hangman, me and Mice are driving out to help Kara and--"

"I know. I can see you."
The backwindow explodes and the little toy Mice hangs off the rearview mirror gets a bullet right through it. Mice swerves on the dirt road and your ears are ringing like crazy, but you can still hear Hangman saying

"More importantly, so can Abe."

You cringe. Abe of the Jacksons rivals Mako for age, but what Mako has in spinning a good yarn, Abe has in shooting a guy's head off with a hi-powered rifle at a thousand paces.

"Turn back now," Hangman says. "I have questions."

"Hangman," you say, keeping your head low as it can go. "Listen to--"

"No, Kim, listen to me," Hangman says. "You don't walk into the middle of town and shoot down a man in broad daylight. I don't care what you're thinking, I don't care what your motives are. You know the rules. You can appeal for clemency, you can swing the jury your way, you can pay the Dogheads for what they lost, but you cannot run. Even if Abe misses... I won't."

"What the fuck do we do, Kim?!" Mice yells.

Priority Questions
What Mice said.
Secondary Questions
What does Taufruit taste like?
What's that noise Mice makes when he's scared?
How do you feel about Dustbowl Tau?

[mightymushroom]

Well, I got us into this mess so if nobody else answers . . . I'm going to stick with my instincts. Tell Mice to keep driving, maybe throwing in some evasive maneuvers, while Kim makes our case over the radio. If we can find time, try to take an inventory of stuff in the truck that a Savvyhead could use for [won't know until we get an inventory].

(Realistically, the truck at full speed should quickly outdistance a stationary rifle. Abe may be a great, even weird, shot, but if he's in a second pursuit vehicle the path is getting bumpier by the second plus we should be kicking up a shit ton of dust as cover. That was a warning shot; exactly what we didn't use on Krone because we understood he should be punished, not warned. Hangman/Abe are trying to make us stop while our buggy gets away – and Hangman's personal threat is not a ranged one. We are not giving up on Kara.)

Exactly what case depends on just what sort of authority Hangman represents here. crazyabe's answer suggests it's mostly intimidation by reputation; Kim is past the point of being intimidated. Also, assume more than one radio in the community is tuned in to the conversation.

Some points to make:

• All our actions today were done in the open and our motives perfectly clear, unlike our antagonists. Our defense won't require our testimony. We're not running. We're acting in an urgent emergency; if Hangman wants a trial tell him we'll accept a result in absentia if we have to but we're not slowing down.
• Krone orchestrated a theft ring, and was responsible for the apparent abductions of three minors: we didn't "walk into town and shoot down a man," we acted against a revealed threat to the community who targeted us personally. His reputation as a liar is well known, even among Dogheads; his excuses would never have been useful.
• Hangman was present! What questions can't be asked on the radio?! Why are you so intent on stopping us, Hangman? The loss affects every clan but the Jacksons. Unless you had something to do with that Pilgrim?

(? Was Twice onto something back when they called us "Hangman's bitch?" Is there a personal connection to lean on?)

Taufruit is a descendant of experiments from the pre-apocalyptic age that attempted to marry chocolate and coffee into a general-purpose fruit. Considering that there are estimated more than 500 distinct chemicals involved, it's no wonder that they never got it right. Biting into a fresh fruit releases a burst of sweet juice from the original berry host, followed by a much darker and slightly bitter taste in the flesh itself. A certain sourness tends to linger on the tongue. Sounds an unpleasant mix, but on the positive side it grows abundantly in the arid conditions near the Dust Bowl, and with all those alkaloids it really resists decomposition when properly dried. In the dried fruit the flavors are more evenly blended, although not great. It does help with alertness.